Stowe Aways

 


  
Guys.  I want to move to Vermont.  {Or maybe Maine}.  Or better yet -- just have a vacation home there to visit whenever the fancy strikes!  Seriously, though, the Green Mountains are gorgeous and Stowe was an absolute treasure.  Our time there was pretty brief -- we rolled into town on a Sunday evening, stayed at the Hobb Knob Inn for the night, and then hit up the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory the next morning before getting back on the road -- but it was a delight and I can't wait to go back someday.  {Preferably in the fall so we can see all the colors changing.}





Jane was really insistent that I get a picture of her Outfit of the Day.  ;)




I have to say, people in the Northeast were VERY accepting and complimentary of our extra large crew.  In general, I'm always half expecting people to berate me in public for the out-of-control-ness of my children from time to time.  Maybe it's because I have a chip on my shoulder with regards to their "spiritedness" and I know how obnoxious they can be when they're melting down or having a rough time.  But regardless, I can't even count the number of times on our trip when perfect strangers marveled and exclaimed to me over how great it was that we have such big family and what a good job we're doing.   Obviously they weren't with us in the car while we were doing all our driving.  Hahaha.







Anyway, Vermont was great and everyone {except Sophie} loved the ice cream factory tour.  Ben & Jerry's was super fun and and the ice cream samples were pretty awesome, too.  :)  Thankfully for the allergy girl's sake, there were a couple other activity options after the tour, and she enjoyed doing some spin art with the younger ones before we all got one more scoop of ice cream before leaving for Maine.  {Sophie was happy to discover that they sold sorbet along with the ice cream and I was happy that we we were able to end our Ben & Jerry's experience on a high note and without anymore whining or tears.} 

(Highlights of our Ben & Jerry's experience can be summed up with the following pictures:) 
  • The Factory (and the Gift Shop)! 







 





  • The Tour! 


  • The Free Samples!





  • The Flavor Graveyard! 




  • The Spin Art! 


 (Grace's souvenir for this pit stop -- a stuffed cow.  I'm pretty sure she accrued a new junk at each stop of the way.)
 






  • And OBVIOUSLY, the Ice Cream (and Sorbet)! 




And that was that! Short and sweet, but just the way to do things -- always leave wanting more, right??  Next stop?  The main attraction...

(Cutest little dumplin' ever!)

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